


The tells that give us away

by Captain_Snark



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Lewis Snart is a shit father basically, M/M, References to Child Abuse, but ending on a postive note, i made a sad thing, kind of, not explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7031467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Snark/pseuds/Captain_Snark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neither Barry nor Len is really okay, their tells might give them away and they're probably a little bit broken but they're in it together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The tells that give us away

**Author's Note:**

> Do you ever want to hug a character? Because at this point I just need someone to give these two a hug and I just had a lot of feels and made a sad. Forgive me? I usually don't write serious stuff though, I feel so weird

Contrary to popular belief, Barry Allen is not oblivious. He’s a CSI and that should warrant him some points for observation skills. Being the fastest man alive also means Barry notices things or tells people might not realize are even there themselves.

Cisco’s face scrunches up for a split second before he takes a sip of his coffee. Barry’s sure he just started drinking coffee because Dante did and he can’t have Dante one up him. Caitlin’s hand muscles strain when he ends up with another injury on his résumé, as if she wants to ball her hands into fists and hit the something or someone who’s responsible. Iris can’t look at pictures of Eddie without her breath hitching just slightly, too fast for anyone to really even notice.

Barry knows it’s a bad habit to observe people in relative time, he used to do it on accident, but there’s a lot of things people unknowingly give away and he’s learned to judge someone’s character on their tells. He doesn’t dare dwell on the reason why Jay or Zoom never had any tells.

Len on the other hand, has plenty. Maybe the only reason he ever gave Len a chance was because of one of the man’s tells. There’s that look in his eyes when pulling a heist or when he looks at him, like he wants to believe there’s good in him too. It’s gone in less than a second, but it’s one of those tells that Barry notices.

Mick might think his threatening glares had something to do with it or Lisa might be convinced it was her scheming that got them together. Len certainly seems to think so. Barry’s probably never going to tell him it’s far from the truth.

He finds out Len actually has a surprising amount of tells for someone who does the name Cold justice most of the time and keeps his emotions in check. His lip twitches when he looks at Barry too long. His hand automatically goes to grab a gun when he hears an unexpected noise and then stops halfway. He picks at labels of beer bottles before he takes a sip. Sometimes Len nods along slightly when Barry thinks he’s counting seconds in his head again.

He notices Len and Lisa share quite some tells. Their eyes dart to the door of a room every few minutes. At first Barry thinks they’re just casing the room, but Mick’s eyes never stray after first entering a room and casing it then. They both shut their eyes at the sound of breaking glass. Their shoulders stiffen when Barry shows up with Flash-related bruises. 

Barry remembers what Lisa told them about their father, but she never mentioned quite how bad it had been. It doesn’t even really click until he taps Len on the shoulder and he finds his hand in a death grip and Len is staring at him with wide eyes.

That’s how Barry learns that Len generally does not like to be touched unless he is the one initiating the contact. Next time he hugs or touches Len he asks if he’s okay with it. Sometimes it’s not and Barry finds that he doesn’t mind much when that quick look of relief flashes across Len’s face that probably only Barry notices.

On good days they cuddle and on days where Len is stuck in his head again counting seconds, Barry brings him hot cocoa with marshmallows and they watch movies together on separate ends of the couch. Len’s mouth moves along during his favourite parts of Star Wars or he quotes Han Solo’s lines when he thinks Barry can’t hear him.

When Lisa comes over, Barry asks her if he can hug her and is rewarded by a huge smile every time. He asks Mick if he can sit next to him when both Len and Lisa need some space, getting a gruff whatever as Mick scoots over to make room on the couch or pulls out a chair for Barry.

Barry sometimes wonders about his own tells. What they are and how Len notices them.

Len always has a blanket and a cup of tea ready when there’s a lightning storm, because Barry gets nervous and Len tells him he gets jittery right before a storm as if Barry somehow knows it’s coming. Barry finds out Len has an app that gives him a warning a few minutes before a storm will hit.

There’s pizza waiting for him when he gets back from a bad day at work and all they’ve done is text each other about what Cisco is up to now with his invention of the week. Barry has no idea how Len figured out pizza is the best comfort food or how he manages to get it delivered from Coast City all the way to Central.

Sometimes Barry still has nightmares. About Zoom, Eobard, his mom… Len doesn’t ask the same way Barry doesn’t ask about his bad days, about counting seconds and staring at nothing. Len will put on Star Wars or Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica or whatever other science fiction thing with Star in it they can watch and somehow everything is okay.

Maybe they’re both a little broken. Maybe neither of them will ever be really okay. Maybe they both have tells of the things that scare them. Maybe there are things they’ll never talk about because their tells say enough. But Barry doesn’t think it matters much when Len is there every step of the way.


End file.
